Isa's Taavo Somer Says "Primitive Modernism" Is Where It's At

In Tastemakers 2012 we toast the visionaries who are making our lives so delicious

When Taavo Somer (pictured, right) tells you that “primitive modernism” is where it’s at, and that soon enough we’ll all be walking around in Beyond Thunderdome fur pelts and restoring DeLoreans, you can’t help but snicker. But then you think, Um, wait, does he know something that I don’t? In general, the answer has always been yes. Eight years ago, Somer opened Freemans restaurant on New York’s Lower East Side, single-handedly ushering in the era of taxidermy and salvaged decor. Then came his men’s clothing store and old-timey barbershop next door. Which made you wonder if bearded hipsters would really pay $42 for a straight-blade shave. (Absolutely.) Later came Peels, the homey Southern restaurant, just as the city’s southern food revolution was taking root.

So when Somer decamped for Brooklyn to open Isa with the Uruguayan chef Ignacio Mattos (pictured, left), we followed him. “In my mind, we’d serve pasta and roast chicken and it would be awesome,” he says. “But Ignacio was like, ‘Maybe, but maybe we’re gonna have more than that. Let’s let it evolve into something.’” That something would be a decidedly more progressive menu served in a warm space outfitted with furniture handmade by Somer. And there’s a whole futuristic geodesic-dome motif going on. So, yeah, you get it–primitive and modern. Honestly, we’re still wrapping our heads around Isa, absorbing it and savoring it–and wondering just what Somer will do next. –Adam Rapoport